Ali Abdel Raziq

Ali Abd al- Raziq (Arabic: علي عبد الرازق, ʿ Alī ʿ Abd ar DMG - Raziq, Abd al- Raziq also, Abdelraziq or Abderraziq; * 1887 or 1888, † 1966) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar and sharia judge. He can be regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic secularism.

His main work is called "Islam and the basics of governance" (al- islam wa - usul al - hukm ), first published in 1925. Because of the controversial points of view regarding the need for the caliphate and religious State, the book sparked in Egypt from a violent intellectual and political debate.

In fact, he claims that the Muslims may agree on any form of government, so long as it serves their interests and the common good, it is religious or secular.

He takes the following arguments: Neither the two main sources of Islamic law ( the Sharia ), ie the Qur'an and the Sunna, nor the ijma ( consensus), nor reason require the rule of a caliph or imam. The experience teaches that the Caliphate had brought only evil to Muslims and Islam. It is through the separation of state and religion, the religion is protected from political abuse.

Especially because Abd al- Raziq emphasizes the horrors of the Caliphate, one can assume that he advocated a humanistic way of governing, perhaps a democratic state, even if he does not explicitly formulated in his book. This is confirmed not least by the fact that both his father, Hasan Abd al- Raziq, and his eldest brother, the famous philosopher Mustafa Abd al- Raziq, supporters were of Egyptian liberalism.

Ali Abd al- Raziq later wrote the book "Consensus in Islamic law " (al- ijma ' fi ash- shari'ah al - Islamiyyah ), which was published in 1947.